Author Archive
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- Checklist of Questions for Clinical Trial Participants
So you have been asked to take part in a research study! This can be a very satisfying experience, allowing you to help yourself now and to help others in the future. After all, without ...
- Learning About the Results of Research
In most informed consent forms, the researcher promises to share what is learned from the study with you. These results will sum up the responses of everyone who took part in the study. In addition, ...
- Will You Have Access to Those Drugs That Work After a Trial Is Complete?
Understandably, if an investigational drug helps you, you may wish to continue to take it after the trial has been completed. In some instances, a medication that is being investigated for use in treating your ...
- Involvement of Family Members and Others
You may wish to involve family members in some parts of a research study. For example, you might consult with a family member about taking part in the study, or you may wish to look ...
- What Is Informed Consent?
Federal regulations have been created to protect the well-being and rights of volunteers in biomedical research. These regulations (Title 45 Code of Federal Regulations Part 46 or 45 CFR 46) say no investigator may involve ...
- Does Research Involve Special Risk?
Well before a clinical study begins, the researcher has attempted to reduce any risk of physical discomfort or harm to you and others who take part. The effort likely began with preclinical, or basic, laboratory ...
- What Protections Exist for Research Subjects?
Many "checkpoints" ensure that research meets strict scientific guidelines and follows rules that protect the subject. Several groups who are not part of the research team examine both the scientific plan and procedures to protect ...
- What Is the Investigator’s Responsibility if a Patient Has a Clinical Crisis?
You read earlier about the differences between clinical research and the care you receive from your personal doctor. In most research, an investigator will try to follow the research design: Following a research plan that ...
- What Is a “Placebo Control” in a Medication Trial?
Studies of new drugs often compare the effects of an investigational drug with the effects of a placebo. If you are considering whether to take part in a drug trial, the director of the study ...
- How Are Clinical Studies of Mental Disorders Designed?
Clinical researchers call the standard scientific approach for trying out treatments a double-blind, randomized, controlled clinical trial. Understanding this term, and knowing how and why this approach is used, should help you to decide whether ...
- How Will Treatment in a Clinical Research Study Differ from Treatment Your Own Doctor Provides?
Clinical research often involves providing treatment. Yet, treatment research is different from the care that you would get from your own doctor. Usually, when you go to a doctor, you want help with a particular ...
- What Is Mental Health Clinical Research?
Scientists study and try different ways to diagnose, treat, and prevent human disease more effectively. The needed research may take place in a basic science laboratory, a clinic, or in the community.
In mental health clinical ...
- Why Do Patients Participate in Research on Mental Disorders?
Although remarkable progress has been made in defining and treating mental illnesses, some treatments are not effective for all persons or may have significant side effects. Thus, most people who agree to take part in ...
- A Guide to Mental Health Clinical Research
Through the ages, disorders of the mind have been among the most devastating and feared illnesses of humanity. Today, thanks to ambitious and productive research on mental illnesses and to the willingness of many persons ...
